10 TV Characters You Never Expected To Be Killed Off

10. Larry The Barfly - The Simpsons

Over the course of 30-plus seasons since debuting in 1989, almost every recurring character on The Simpsons has had at least one story focus on them. Hell, season 23 even saw Jeremy Irons take centre stage to voice a dish rag, but for some characters, it has taken a lot longer than others.

Despite having appeared in the very first episode of the show, Larry the Barfly was only ever a background character until season 35 when the shocking decision was made to kill him off.

Several characters have been killed off on The Simpsons, from Maude Flanders and Bleeding Gums Murphy, to Fat Tony and Mona Simpson, but with Larry having such a small impact on the show, no one could have seen this one coming. In fact, it was so out of the blue that certain members of the audience have actually been quite upset by it.

In his death, Homer, Moe, Lenny, and Carl realised they knew about Larry even though he thought of them as his best friends, and they were brought together somewhat by a trip to scatter his ashes. TV shows often use the death of a character when in a slump of sorts, and The Simpsons has been in such a slump for a few decades now, but no one could have seen them using such a background character as Larry Dalrymple.